W748
- Thread starter e-bear
- Start date
What Road Clam said, check Hodgdon's data, they have it. Its also in several of my manuals. If you don't have a paper copy grab one. Of all the manuals I have Lee is the best.. Also 1:9 should stabilize 55g just fine, twist is not specific to the load data though.
Sources with 55g data for 223 with W748
Hodgdon
Lee
Hornady
Lyman
Sierra
Sources with 55g data for 223 with W748
Hodgdon
Lee
Hornady
Lyman
Sierra
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Depends on the bullet used and seating depth I would guess. Could also be to prevent issues due to temperature sensitivity
Never tried it myself. Heard it needs magnum primers for consistent ignition due to being a ball powder.
Hodgdon shows for 55g
Max of 25.0 with the barnes.but it's long for it's weight
max of 26.3 with a speer soft point.
Hornady lists a max of 26.5 for all jacketed 55g
Lee lists a max of 26.3 with 55gfmj
Lyman lists a max of 27.8g with a jacketed soft point
Sierra shows a max of 26.5 with fmj
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I absolutely do use W748 in 223. I have used W748 literally for decades. Are there better powders? Maybe. Is it better than any other powders? Probably not. I started using W748 in the 1980s when I worked for a commercial reloader and I've never wanted or needed to find something to replace it. I have heard that H335 or H322 or Varget are better, but it doesn't matter because it works for me. Data is available in virtually every loading manual I have ever used.
I’ve used 27.0 grains of W748 with standard primers and various 55-grain bullets for over 40 years in my AR-15. The load came from the then-current Hornady manual. It is accurate, gives good velocity and provides perfect functioning. I’m not sure why Hodgdon limits the max pressure with this powder and bullet weight to just 26.3 grains and 39,000 cup, the SAAMI spec is 52,000 cup.
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Been using 748 in 55gr AR gas gun .223 for many years. Good powder. Not the best for precision work, and 748 is a bit temp sensitive. I get about another 25 fps if i use mag primers. I got a great deal on an 8# keg many years ago, so for my AR short range high power practice ammo it works great for me.
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Thank Y'all for the answers I was seeking even though I got egg on my face for it. As I looked into the proper manuals and the proper pages I realized I had it all along.
OBTW Road Clam, "To be old and wise you must have been young and stupid"
I'm 70+ but as a young man I fervently sought wisdom. Now as an old man I cling to young and stupid. I've got all the scrapes, bumps and bruises to prove it. Nobody messes with me now. Ahhhh. Stupid Wisdom.
OBTW Road Clam, "To be old and wise you must have been young and stupid"
I'm 70+ but as a young man I fervently sought wisdom. Now as an old man I cling to young and stupid. I've got all the scrapes, bumps and bruises to prove it. Nobody messes with me now. Ahhhh. Stupid Wisdom.
Glad ya found it.
Road Clam,
One year ('93 or '94) I shot some poor-fill loads of Accurate 2520 in 308 just to try it. Groups out of the M1A opened up about 40%. However, that year I decided to try flash hole deburring, and when I did that, the groups tightened back down to the gun's usual ¾ moa (10 shots). I've never had flash hole deburring make any difference in any other combination in that or any other gun. Also, the primers I was using back then were not magnum primers, and moving to magnum primers might have done the same thing, but I don't know, as I gave up on that powder after the first pound was gone as being too finicky compared to the usual stick powders.
The reason I mention all of that is it proved to my satisfaction that ignition consistency was the real issue rather than powder space. Powder space makes ignition consistency harder to achieve, and that's why the correlation appears to exist.
One year ('93 or '94) I shot some poor-fill loads of Accurate 2520 in 308 just to try it. Groups out of the M1A opened up about 40%. However, that year I decided to try flash hole deburring, and when I did that, the groups tightened back down to the gun's usual ¾ moa (10 shots). I've never had flash hole deburring make any difference in any other combination in that or any other gun. Also, the primers I was using back then were not magnum primers, and moving to magnum primers might have done the same thing, but I don't know, as I gave up on that powder after the first pound was gone as being too finicky compared to the usual stick powders.
The reason I mention all of that is it proved to my satisfaction that ignition consistency was the real issue rather than powder space. Powder space makes ignition consistency harder to achieve, and that's why the correlation appears to exist.
Not sure where this came from, but for the record it simply isn’t true. Hodgdon is clear about this kind of thing, if two powders are the same they will post identical loading data for both; examples are the W760/H414 and W296/H110 twins. Such is not the case with W748 and H335, as can be clearly seen in Hodgdon’s .223 Remington data below. They are not even close, now check data for the other two pairs. But you are correct, even powders which are the same will vary slightly lot to lot and you do need to confirm loads for each.
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Am using 748 in 223 with rem 7 1/2 primers. Especially for 55 grain bullets, and the mag primer made a difference for what i was using. Also use it for 30-30, 307 win, 308 win. Use a mag primer for all but the 30-30. It gives extremely good case fill in the 308 size cases, although is moderately temp sensitive.
zplinker said:
Not so. H335 is canister-grade WC846, which is a military 5.56 ball ammo powder. 748 is canister-grade WC748. Both are made by General Dynamics in its St. Marks, Florida plant. Both are part of the Western Canon line (what WC stands for). If you look at the Hodgdon Relative Burn Rate Chart, you will see 748 is much closer to BL-(C)2 (aka WC844, a military 7.62 ball ammo powder) than to H335. As an aside, WC846 is a less-deterred version of WC844, so it has a faster burn rate.
The Happy kaboomer
New member
My go load for my Ar's is a 55 gr bullet pushed by 26 grs of W748. I've shot thousands of these.
stagpanther
New member
Interesting conversation--by coincidence I just loaded up some .223 with H335 out of curiosity.
9MMand223only
New member
here you go
http://www.natoreloading.com/w748/
27 grains I think is either slightly beyond 56k PSI or near it. I would guess over, but shot good. I would go in the 26-26.5 area for 55 grain, but as you can see, hotter was more accurate.
http://www.natoreloading.com/w748/
27 grains I think is either slightly beyond 56k PSI or near it. I would guess over, but shot good. I would go in the 26-26.5 area for 55 grain, but as you can see, hotter was more accurate.